Spectator view of virtual and physical objects

ABSTRACT

A user may interact and view virtual elements such as avatars and objects and/or real world elements in three-dimensional space in an augmented reality (AR) session. The system may allow one or more spectators to view from a stationary or dynamic camera a third person view of the users AR session. The third person view may be synchronized with the user view and the virtual elements of the user view may be composited onto the third person view.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e)to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/987,517, filed on Mar. 10, 2020,entitled “SPECTATOR VIEW OF VIRTUAL AND PHYSICAL OBJECTS,” thedisclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods to facilitate aspectator view of virtual and physical objects in a virtual, augmentedor mixed reality environment.

BACKGROUND

Modern computing and display technologies have facilitated thedevelopment of systems for so called “virtual reality”, “augmentedreality”, or “mixed reality” sessions, wherein digitally reproducedimages or portions thereof are presented to a user in a manner whereinthey seem to be, or may be perceived as, real. A virtual reality, or“VR”, scenario typically involves presentation of digital or virtualimage information without transparency to other actual real-world visualinput; an augmented reality, or “AR”, scenario involves presentation ofdigital or virtual image information as an augmentation to visualizationof the actual world around the user; a mixed reality, or “MR”, relatedto merging real and virtual worlds to produce new environments wherephysical and virtual objects co-exist and interact in real time. As itturns out, the human tactile and visual perception systems are verycomplex. Producing a VR, AR, or MR technology that facilitates acomfortable, natural-looking, rich presentation and interaction ofvirtual image elements, such as virtual avatars amongst other virtual orreal-world imagery elements, to a user is challenging. Additionally,relaying the users VR, AR, or MR session to other spectators to viewadds to the challenges of such technology. Systems and methods disclosedherein address various challenges related to VR, AR, and MR technology.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to systems andmethods for facilitating a spectator view of virtual and physicalobjects in a virtual, augmented or mixed reality environment. As oneexample embodiment, one or more input devices (e.g., controllers) pairedwith a head-mounted display system may be used by a user to view andinteract in a VR, AR, or MR session. Such sessions may include virtualelements such as virtual avatars (e.g., a graphical representation of acharacter and/or person) and objects (e.g., a graphical representationof a table, chair, painting and/or other object) in a three-dimensionalspace. The VR, AR, or MR session may be live streamed and/or recorded byone or more cameras (e.g., a spectator camera) to present a third personperspective of the session to one or more spectators on one or moredisplay systems (e.g., monitors, tablets, phones, head-mounted displaysystems, among other display systems).

For ease of reading and understanding, certain systems and methodsdiscussed herein refer to an augmented reality environment or other“augmented reality” or “AR” components. These descriptions of augmentedreality” or “AR” should be construed to include “mixed reality,”“virtual reality,” “VR,” “MR,” and the like, as if each of those“reality environments” were specifically mentioned also.

Further details of features, objects, and advantages of the disclosureare described below in the detailed description, drawings, and claims.Both the foregoing general description and the following detaileddescription are exemplary and explanatory and are not intended to belimiting as to the scope of the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following drawings and the associated descriptions are provided toillustrate embodiments of the present disclosure and do not limit thescope of the claims. The relative placement of features and elements mayhave been modified for the purpose of illustrative clarity. Wherepractical, the same or similar reference numbers denote the same orsimilar or equivalent structures, features, aspects, or elements, inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

The drawings illustrate the design and utility of various embodiments ofthe present disclosure. It should be noted that the figures are notnecessarily drawn to scale and that elements of similar structures orfunctions are represented by like reference numerals throughout thefigures. Understanding that these drawings depict only exampleembodiments of the disclosure and are not therefore to be consideredlimiting of its scope, the disclosure will be described and explainedwith additional specificity and detail through the use of theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of an examplesystem for providing a spectator view of virtual and physical objects.

FIG. 1B illustrates an example top view of an environment wherein aspectator view of a user interacting with a virtual avatar is provided.

FIG. 2A illustrates one embodiment of an example head-mounted displaysystem for simulating three-dimensional imagery in an augmented realitysession.

FIG. 2B illustrates one embodiment of an example user input device forinteracting in an augmented reality session.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example room view including a spectator camera.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example view of virtual elements from thespectator camera perspective.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example view of an augmented reality session fromthe spectator camera perspective.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example view of the augmented reality session fromthe spectator camera perspective.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are flowcharts illustrating example processes oflocalizing a spectator camera.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

In the following, numerous specific details are set forth to provide athorough description of various embodiments. Certain embodiments may bepracticed without these specific details or with some variations indetail. In some instances, certain features are described in less detailso as not to obscure other aspects. The level of detail associated witheach of the elements or features should not be construed to qualify thenovelty or importance of one feature over the others.

AR systems may display virtual content to a user during an AR session.For example, this content may be displayed on a head-mounted displaysystem (e.g., as part of eyewear) that projects image information to theuser's eyes. In addition, in an AR system, the display may also transmitlight from the surrounding environment to the user's eyes, to allow aview of that surrounding environment. As used herein, a “head-mounted”or “head mountable” display system includes a display that may bemounted on the head of a user or spectator. Such displays may beunderstood to form parts of a display system. Further, AR displaysystems may include one or more user input devices such as a hand-heldcontroller (e.g., a multi-degree of freedom game controller) to interactin the three-dimensional space during an AR session such as describedherein.

However, spectators (e.g., observers of an AR session) may be limited inviewing the AR session of the user (e.g., the spectators may only viewthe user's first person head-mounted display perspective andinteractions therein). In some embodiments, the spectators may belimited to viewing only the user's physical interactions with thephysical environment but not the virtual environment (e.g., thespectators may see the user move around and interact but not see thevirtual content the user is interacting with). Such view restrictionsseverely hinder the spectator's experience and ability to engage inand/or view the user's AR session as a whole.

Accordingly, described herein are systems and methods for providingoutside spectators a view of virtual and physical (e.g., real-world)objects, including a user wearing an AR head-mounted display system andinteractions of the user with virtual and physical objects within an ARenvironment. In one embodiment, one or more cameras (e.g., a spectatorcamera) may provide a third person a live streamed and/or recorded viewof the physical interactions and/or movements of the user. Additionally,during the AR session, virtual elements (e.g., virtual avatars, virtualobjects, etc.) may be composited onto the head mounted display firstperson view of the user. The same virtual elements from the view of theuser may be synchronized, rendered, and composited onto the video feedfrom the spectator camera, after adjusting so that the virtual elementsare rendered from the reference point of the spectator camera. Thespectator may then view a third person synchronized composite view ofthe AR session which may further eliminate view restrictions tospectators. Various embodiments of the present technology describedherein provide systems and methods to allow one or more spectators toview the AR session of the user including virtual avatars and objectsfrom various perspectives (e.g., a third person perspective). Suchsystems and methods as further described herein provide a synchronizedcomposite view of the AR session from a stationary or dynamic spectatorcamera to a spectator.

Additionally, various embodiments of the present technology describedherein are further advantageous as the technology contains featuresrelated to video compositing, character rig data (e.g., virtual avatarskeletal data, eye gaze data, etc.) transmission, spatial cameraposition matching and localization, stationary and dynamic camerapositioning and tracking, easy pluggable designs that may feed intoexisting three-dimensional workflows, among other features.

Example Block Diagram of System

FIG. 1A illustrates a block diagram 100A of an example system tofacilitate a spectator view of virtual and physical objects in anaugmented reality session.

The system may include a head-mounted display system 210, one or moreuser input devices 220, one or more local processors and data modules230, one or more remote processors and data modules 232, a remote datarepository 234, one or more peripheral sensors 236, one or morespectator cameras 302, and one or more spectator displays 102.

Examples of the head-mounted display system 210 and one or more userinput devices 220 are illustrated in FIGS. 2A-B and disclosed furtherherein. The head-mounted display system 210 may be paired via a wirelessand/or wired connection 104 to the one or more user input devices 220.In some embodiments, the connection 104 occurs via an electromagneticemitter from the one or more user input devices 220 to anelectromagnetic receiver from the head-mounted display system 210. Thehead-mounted display system 210 may be operatively coupled via acommunications link 216 (e.g., a wired or wireless connectivity) to alocal processor and data module 230. Similarly, the one or moreperipheral sensors 236 may be operatively coupled via a communicationslink 235 (e.g., a wired or wireless connectivity) to the local processorand data module 230. Furthermore, the local processor and data module230 may be operatively coupled by communication links 231, 233, 237(e.g., wired or wireless connectivity) to the one or more remoteprocessors and data modules 232 and remote data repository 234 such thatthese remote modules 232, 234 are operatively coupled to each other andavailable as resources to the one or more local processors and datamodules 230.

The one or more remote processors and data modules 232 may beoperatively coupled via a communications link 103 (e.g., a wired orwireless connectivity) to display an augmented reality session spectatorview of one or more users to one or more spectator displays 102. Suchspectator displays 102 may include monitors, televisions, tablets,phones, head-mounted display systems among other like spectator viewingdisplays. The spectator view may be a stationary view (e.g., afixed-location view of the AR session in which the virtual elements arecomposited onto the live and/or recorded physical user interactions) ora dynamic view (e.g., a view that is moveable to capture multiple viewpoints of the AR session in which the virtual elements are compositedonto the live and/or recorded physical user interactions).

The one or more remote processors and data modules 232 may beoperatively coupled via a communications link 105 (e.g., a wired orwireless connectivity) to receive video output of the one or morespectator cameras 302. In some embodiments, the communications link 105uses serial digital interface (SDI) to interface between the one or morespectator cameras 302 and one or more remote processors and data modules232. Further, in some embodiments, the one or more remote processors anddata modules 232 uses a PCI-E Video and Audio I/O Card Interface withbi-directional SDI connection 103 to optimally live composite andsynchronize the virtual elements (e.g., virtual avatars with associatedcharacter rig, eye gaze, motion capture, among other like virtual avatardata and/or virtual objects with associated position, orientation, shapeamong other like virtual object data) with the video stream.Additionally, these embodiments also enable spectators to easilyvisualize green-screened scenes combined with computer graphics (CG)(e.g., virtual avatars and virtual objects) in real-time. Examples of aspectator camera and/or spectator view are illustrated in FIGS. 3-6 anddisclosed further herein.

FIG. 1B is an example top view 100B of an environment wherein aspectator view of a user interacting with a virtual avatar is provided.In this example, the environment 308 is illustrated as a room, but inother implementations the environment 308 may include any other physicalenvironment. The user 306, wearing a head-mounted display system 210,interacts with a virtual avatar 402. For example, the user 306 may seethe virtual avatar 402 seated across from the user 306 at a table.

In the example of FIG. 1B, multiple physical objects are included in theenvironment 308, including physical object 308B, such as the table, andphysical object 308A, such as a stool, bookshelf, painting, or otherperson, for example. One or more virtual objects 203 may also beincluded in the environment 308. Advantageously, a spectator camera 302is positioned within the room to capture images of the physical objectswithin the environment 308, such as the user 306 and any other physicalobjects within the environment 308. The spectator camera 302 is incommunication with a remote system 208 that is configured to provide avideo feed to a spectator display 102 visible to one or more spectators.

In some embodiments, the remote system 208 may be located just outsidethe physical environment 308 (e.g., room). In some embodiments, theremote system 208 includes and/or is in communication with the remotedata processors and data modules 232 and/or the remote data repository234 (e.g., FIG. 1A and FIG. 2A). Thus, functions described herein withreference to the remote system 208 may be partially or fully performedby the remote system 208, the remote data processors and data modules232, and/or the remote data repository 234.

In the example of FIG. 1B, the head-mounted display system 210communicates with the remote system 208, such as via a local areanetwork and/or wireless area network to provide information regardingthe current attributes of the virtual avatar and virtual objects withinthe environment 308. The remote system 208 may then generate a compositeof images from the spectator camera 302 and a representation of thevirtual objects from the perspective of the spectator camera 302 (basedon information received from the head-mounted display system 210).Accordingly, the spectator display 102 is configured to provide a viewof the environment 308 that seamlessly combines real-world and virtualcontent.

Example User Input and Display Devices

FIG. 2A illustrates an example head-mounted display system 210 forsimulating three-dimensional imagery in an augmented reality session.The head-mounted display system 210 may include various integratedwaveguides and related systems as disclosed herein. The waveguideassembly may be part of a display 213. In some embodiments, thehead-mounted display system 210 may include a stereoscopic display asthe display 213.

With continued reference to FIG. 2A, the display 213 may be coupled to aframe 211, which is wearable by a user or viewer (e.g., the user 306illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 5-6) and which is configured to position thedisplay 213 in front of the eyes of the user 306. The display 213 may beconsidered eyewear in some embodiments. In some embodiments, a speaker215 is coupled to the frame 211 and configured to be positioned near theear of the user 306. In some embodiments, another speaker, mayoptionally be positioned near the other ear of the user 306 to providestereo/shapeable sound control. The head-mounted display system 210 mayalso include one or more microphones 217 or other devices to detectsound. In some embodiments, the microphones 217 are configured to allowthe user 306 to provide inputs or commands to the system 210 (e.g., theselection of voice menu commands, natural language questions, etc.),and/or may allow audio communication with other persons (e.g., withother users or spectators of similar display systems). The microphonemay further be configured as a peripheral sensor to collect audio data(e.g., sounds from the user and/or environment). In some embodiments,the display system may also include one or more peripheral sensors 236,which may be separate from the frame 211 and attached to the body of theuser 306 (e.g., on the head, torso, an extremity, etc. of the user 306).The peripheral sensors 236 may be configured to acquire datacharacterizing a physiological state of the user 306 in some embodiments(e.g., the sensor 236 may be electrodes, inertial measurement units,accelerometers, compasses, GPS units, radio devices, gyros, and/or othersensors disclosed herein).

With continued reference to FIG. 2A, the head-mounted display system 210is operatively coupled by communications link 216, such as by a wired orwireless connectivity, to a local data processing module 230 which maybe mounted in a variety of configurations, such as fixedly attached tothe frame 211, fixedly attached to a helmet or hat worn by the user 306,embedded in headphones, or otherwise removable attached to the user 306(e.g., in a backpack-style configuration, in a belt-coupling styleconfiguration). In some embodiments, the head-mounted display system 210includes and/or is in communication with the local data processors anddata modules 230. Thus, functions described herein with reference to thehead-mounted display system 210 may be partially or fully performed bythe local data processing module 230. Similarly, the sensor 236 may beoperatively coupled by communications link 235 (e.g., a wired orwireless connectivity) to the local processor and data module 230. Thelocal processor and data module 230 may comprise a hardware processor,as well as digital memory, such as non-volatile memory (e.g., flashmemory or hard disk drives), both of which may be utilized to assist inthe processing, caching, and storage of data. Optionally, the localprocessor and data module 230 may include one or more central processingunits (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), dedicated processinghardware, among other processing hardware. The data may include data a)captured from sensors (which may be operatively coupled to the frame 211or otherwise attached to the user 306), such as image capture devices(e.g., cameras 212, 214, 218), microphones (e.g., microphone 217),inertial measurement units, accelerometers, compasses, GPS units, radiodevices, gyros, and/or other sensors disclosed herein; and/or b)acquired and/or processed using remote processor and data module 232and/or remote data repository 234 (including data relating to virtualcontent), possibly for passage to the display 213 after such processingor retrieval. The local processor and data module 230 may be operativelycoupled by communication links 231, 233, 237 such as via a wired orwireless communication links, to the remote processor and data module232 and remote data repository 234 such that these remote modules 232,234 are operatively coupled to each other and available as resources tothe local processor and data module 230. In some embodiments, the localprocessor and data module 230 may include one or more of the imagecapture devices, microphones, inertial measurement units,accelerometers, compasses, GPS units, radio devices, and/or gyros. Insome other embodiments, one or more of these sensors may be attached tothe frame 211, or may be standalone structures that communicate with thelocal processor and data module 230 by wired or wireless communicationpathways.

With continued reference to FIG. 2A, in some embodiments, the remoteprocessor and data module 232 may comprise one or more processorsconfigured to analyze and process data and/or image information, forinstance including one or more central processing units (CPUs), graphicsprocessing units (GPUs), dedicated processing hardware, and so on. Insome embodiments, the remote data repository 234 may comprise a digitaldata storage facility, which may be available through the internet orother networking configuration in a “cloud” resource configuration. Insome embodiments, the remote data repository 234 may include one or moreremote servers, which provide information, (e.g., information forgenerating augmented reality content) to the local processor and datamodule 230 and/or the remote processor and data module 232. In someembodiments, all data is stored and all computations are performed inthe local processing and data module, allowing fully autonomous use froma remote module. Optionally, an outside system (e.g., a system of one ormore processors, one or more computers) that includes CPUs, GPUs, and soon, may perform at least a portion of processing (e.g., generating imageinformation, processing data) and provide information to, and receiveinformation from, local processor and data module 230, remote processorand data module 232, and remote data repository 234, for instance viawireless or wired connections.

FIG. 2B illustrates an example user input device 220 (e.g., a hand-heldcontroller) for interacting in an augmented reality session. The userinputs may be received through controller buttons or input regions onthe user input device 220. In particular, FIG. 2B illustrates that acontroller 220, which may be a part of the head-mounted display system210 illustrated in FIG. 2A and which may include a home button 222,trigger 228, bumper 226, and touchpad 224. Further, in some embodimentsthe controller 220 is electromagnetically tracked with the head-mounteddisplay system 210. The controller 220 includes an emitter and thehead-mounted display system 210 includes a receiver 219 forelectromagnetic tracking.

Potential user inputs that can be received through controller 220include, but are not limited to, pressing and releasing the home button222; half and full (and other partial) pressing of the trigger 228;releasing the trigger 228; pressing and releasing the bumper 226;touching, moving while touching, releasing a touch, increasing ordecreasing pressure on a touch, touching a specific portion such as anedge of the touchpad 224, or making a gesture on the touchpad 224 (e.g.,by drawing a shape with the thumb).

Physical movement of controller 220 and of a head-mounted display system210 may form user inputs into the system. The head-mounted displaysystem 210 may comprise the head-worn components 211-219 of thehead-mounted display system 210. In some embodiments, the controller 220provides three degree-of-freedom (3 DOF) input, by recognizing rotationof controller 220 in any direction. In other embodiments, the controller220 provides six degree-of-freedom (6 DOF) input, by also recognizingtranslation of the controller in any direction. In still otherembodiments, the controller 220 may provide less than 6 DOF or less than3 DOF input. Similarly, the head-mounted display system 210 mayrecognize and receive 3 DOF, 6 DOF, less than 6 DOF, or less than 3 DOFinput.

The user inputs may have different durations. For example, certain userinputs may have a short duration (e.g., a duration of less than afraction of a second, such as 0.25 seconds) or may have a long duration(e.g., a duration of more than a fraction of a second, such as more than0.25 seconds). In at least some embodiments, the duration of an inputmay itself be recognized and utilized by the system as an input. Shortand long duration inputs can be treated differently by the head-mounteddisplay system 210. For example, a short duration input may representselection of an object, whereas a long duration input may representactivation of the object (e.g., causing execution of an app associatedwith the object).

Example Spectator View System

FIG. 3 illustrates an example room view including a spectator camera 302in a physical environment 308. A localization of the spectator camera302 (e.g., determining and/or tracking the position and orientation ofthe spectator camera 302 in a mapped or unmapped environment) isdescribed herein and further illustrated in FIG. 3. The localization ofthe spectator camera 302 allows the one or more virtual avatars (e.g.,the avatar 402 illustrated in FIGS. 4-6) to interact in the AR sessionin a smooth natural-looking way in reference to real physical objects(e.g., the table 308B and stool 308A), the user 306 (e.g., first personview), and/or the spectator (e.g., third person view). The spectatorcamera 302 may be stationary (e.g., fixed-location) or dynamic (e.g.,moveable). In some embodiments, a plurality of spectator cameras 302 maybe used to capture multiple third person spectator views of the ARsession.

In some embodiments, the spectator camera 302 is stationary. Astationary spectator camera may only need to be localized once to thehead-mounted display system 210 of the user 306 (e.g., the position andorientation of the spectator camera relative to the head-mounted displaysystem is known). The position and orientation of the spectator camera302 may be localized via image tracking from the head-mounted displaysystem 210. The image tracking may occur by initially using thehead-mounted display system 210 to scan the physical environment 308(e.g., the room) for a physical two-dimensional planar image 304 coupledto a lens cap of the spectator camera 302. When the two-dimensionalplanar image 304 location is determined by the head-mounted displaysystem 210, a virtual marker (e.g., virtual image tracking box or cube)is generated (e.g., by the head-mounted display system 210) at theposition and orientation of the two-dimensional planar image 304. Thelocation of the two-dimensional planar image 304 is relative to thecoordinate system of the head-mounted display system 210 that scannedthe physical environment 308 and may be stored onto remote datarepository 234. In some embodiments, the remote data repository 234stores one or more mappings for one or more head-mounted display systems210 that occupy and acquire images of a portion of the physicalenvironment 308. The lifetime of the one or more mappings may coincidewith the lifetime of the persistent coordinate frame of thecorresponding head-mounted display system 210. In some embodiments, oncethe two-dimensional planar image 304 location is determined, virtualparticle animations and/or virtual annotations (e.g., “image found”) aregenerated by the head-mounted display system 210 on and/or near thevirtual marker as further indication that the two-dimensional planarimage 304 location is determined.

The physical two-dimensional planar image 304 coupled to the lens cap ofthe spectator camera 302 may be removed from the spectator camera 302once the virtual marker is generated. However, the virtual marker willremain fixed in the same position and orientation that it was initiallygenerated at (e.g., the initial position and orientation of the physicaltwo-dimensional planar image 304 coupled to the lens cap of thespectator camera 302 illustrated in FIG. 3). The virtual marker positionand orientation is determined as the origin point and gaze direction ofthe spectator camera 302 relative to a mapping of the virtualenvironment (e.g., virtual elements 402, 404A-B, and 406A-B illustratedin FIG. 4) based on the position and orientation of the physicalenvironment 308 (e.g., physical elements, 306 and 308). The mapping ofthe virtual environment is further disclosed herein (e.g., disclosed indescription of FIG. 4).

Once the origin point and gaze direction of the spectator camera 302 isdetermined, the virtual elements displayed from the head-mounted displaysystem 210 may be spatially and temporally synchronized. For example,the remote system 208 (e.g., illustrated in FIG. 1B) may render thevirtual elements at three-dimensional positions and orientations withreference to the origin point and gaze direction of the spectator camera302, instead of from the perspective of the head-mounted display system210. The remote system 208 may composite the synchronized virtualelements with the live feed and/or recording of the spectator camera 302to display a stationary third person view of the AR session to one ormore spectators on one or more display devices (e.g., the third personspectator camera 302 views shown in FIGS. 5-6). FIG. 7 furtherillustrates example processes associated with localization of astationary spectator camera.

In some embodiments, the spectator camera 302 is dynamic (e.g., moveablewithin the environment, rather than in a fixed location such as thecamera 302 in FIG. 3). In some embodiments the dynamic spectator cameramay be on a motorized camera mount that may be controlled by the remotesystem 208 and/or another system to move in three-dimensional space. Insome embodiments, the dynamic spectator camera may be controlled by acamera operator (e.g., a “camera man”) to move the spectator camera 302in three-dimensional space.

In some embodiments, the dynamic spectator camera may localize to thehead-mounted display system 210 of the user 306 in the same manner asdescribed herein for the stationary spectator camera (e.g., the physicaltwo-dimensional planar image 304 coupled to the lens cap of thespectator camera 302). In some embodiments, the dynamic spectator cameramay automatically localize to the head-mounted display system 210 of theuser 306 via markerless (e.g., no two-dimensional planar image 304)tracking. The markerless tracking may occur by determining the field ofview (FOV) of the spectator camera 302 via the remote system 208 and/orwith hardware added to the spectator camera 302. This example dynamiclocalization system may then track physical objects (e.g., thehead-mounted display system 210) found in the environment 308 relativeto the FOV of the spectator camera 302 via the remote system 208 andstore the tracked location of the head-mounted display system 210 ontoremote data repository 234.

In some embodiments, the remote system 208 may track the head-mounteddisplay system 210 by detecting features of the head-mounted displaysystem 210 in the current frame from the dynamic spectator camera feed.Then the remote system 208 may compare and find the correspondingfeatures (e.g., correspondences) of the head-mounted display system 210in the following frames from the dynamic spectator camera feed. Theposition and orientation of the spectator camera 302 (e.g., origin pointand gaze direction) may be determined based on the determinedcorrespondences (e.g., two features of the head-mounted display system210 in different frames that are the same features within theenvironment 308) in position and orientation. In some embodiments, thespectator camera 302 may dynamically adjust and/or move by control ofthe remote system 208 and/or a camera operator to maintain thehead-mounted display system 210 in the FOV of the spectator camera 302.

Once the head-mounted display system 210 is tracked relative to the FOVof the spectator camera 302, the virtual elements displayed from thehead-mounted display system 210 may be spatially and temporallysynchronized to the remote system 208 (e.g., the virtual element'sthree-dimensional position, orientation, rig data, and timestamp aresynchronized, and re-rendered in reference to the location of thehead-mounted display system 210 relative to the origin point and gazedirection of the spectator camera 302). The remote system 208 maycomposite the synchronized virtual elements with the live feed and/orrecording of the spectator camera 302 to display a dynamic third person(“spectator”) view of the AR session to one or more spectators on one ormore display devices (e.g., the third person spectator camera 302 viewsshown in FIGS. 5-6). FIG. 7 further illustrates example processesassociated with localization of a dynamic spectator camera.

In some embodiments, the spectator camera 302 uses SDI videoinput/output. The SDI video input/output may support 3840×2160,1920×1080, and/or other resolution. In one embodiment, the SDI videoinput/output may be 6G-SDI with timestamp at 10-bit 4:2:2, and use aDeutsches Institut für Normung (DIN) 1.0/2.3 connector. In someembodiments, the spectator camera 302 uses an interchangeable cameralens. The spectator camera lens may be an ultra-wide angle 7-14 mm lens.Additionally the lens may comprise multiple (e.g., 10, 12, 14, or more)individual lens elements comprising one or more extra-low dispersion(ED), super ED, and/or ED aspherical (EDA) elements.

Example Spectator Perspective View

FIG. 4 illustrates a mapping of virtual elements from the spectatorcamera 302 perspective (e.g., the same operating environment as FIG. 3but rotated 90° counter-clockwise for FIGS. 4-6 as the view is from thespectator camera 302 perspective).

In some embodiments, a mapping of virtual elements 402, 404A-B, and406A-B (e.g., the virtual avatar 402, the virtual table 404A, thevirtual stool 404B, and the virtual walls 406A-B) may be generated byrendering and placing masks and/or wire meshes of virtual elements 402,404A-B, and 406A-B at specific positions and orientations within thephysical environment 308 via the remote system 208 and/or thehead-mounted display system 210. For example, virtual elements 404A and406A-B may be rendered and placed at a corresponding physical objectposition and orientation (e.g., overlaying a physical object) within thephysical environment 308 (e.g., the virtual table 404A is placed andrendered at the position and orientation of the physical table 308Bshown in FIG. 3). Further, virtual elements 402 and 404B may also berendered and placed at locations in which physical objects do not existwithin the physical environment 308 (e.g., the virtual stool 408B andvirtual avatar 402 are placed and rendered at locations where physicalobjects do not exist within the physical environment 308). In otherimplementations, additional physical objects may be included in theenvironment, such as a physical stool onto which the virtual stool 408Bis overlaid. The position and orientation of the virtual elements 402,404A-B, and 406A-B may be included in a mesh of the environment, definedin a map of the environment, and stored in the remote data repository234.

In some embodiments, the position and orientation of virtual elementsthat overlay physical objects from the generated map (e.g., virtualtable 404A overlays physical table 308B) may be used to generateholdouts via the remote system 208 and/or the head-mounted displaysystem 210. The holdouts may occlude (e.g., hide) at least part of avirtual element in reference to the mapped position and orientation ofthe overlaid physical object. For example, a virtual avatar 402 mayappear to walk around the physical environment 308 naturally as one ormore parts of the virtual avatar 402 may be hidden when the virtualavatar 402 is positioned and/or oriented behind certain physical objects(e.g., physical table 308B) within the physical environment 308.

FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 illustrate an augmented reality session from thespectator camera 302 perspective. Further FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate avirtual avatar 402 interacting with a user 306.

In some embodiments, the virtual avatar 402 may interact with the user306 in any way that is available to the user via the head-mounteddisplay system 210. For example, any software executed on thehead-mounted system 210 to generate an AR experience for the user may beperformed in the environment 308 and displayed in a spectator viewgenerated by the remote system 208. Thus, while examples herein displaya single user interacting with a single virtual avatar, any combinationand quantity of users, avatars, and virtual content may be displayed ina spectator view.

In some embodiments, the virtual avatar 402 interacts with the user 306based on a prearranged routine and/or scene via the remote system 208and/or the head-mounted display system 210. For example, the virtualavatar 402 as illustrated in FIG. 5 may sit on a virtual stool 404B andsmile 402A at the user 306 and then as illustrated in FIG. 6 stand andgesture 402B at virtual text 602. The prearranged routine and/or scenethat the virtual avatar 402 carries out may be stored in the remote datarepository 234.

In some embodiments, the virtual avatar 402 may interactively interactwith the user 306 and vice versa. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 5,the user 306 may produce a facial expression 306A (e.g., a smile) andthe virtual avatar 402 may generate via the head-mounted display system210 and/or remote system 208 a distinct or identical facial expression402A in response. Further, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the user 306 mayproduce a gesture 306B (e.g., pointing at virtual text 602) and thevirtual avatar 402 may generate via the head-mounted display system 210and/or remote system 208 a distinct or identical gesture 402B inresponse.

In some embodiments, the virtual avatar 402 may be controlled by apuppeteer (e.g., a spectator that is viewing the spectator view or theuser 306). In some embodiments, the puppeteer may control facialexpressions, gestures, and/or body movements of the virtual avatar 402via a user input device 220. In some embodiments, the puppeteer may betracked by the spectator camera 302 via the remote system 208 such thatthe avatar 402 may mirror the facial expressions, gestures, and bodymovements of the puppeteer. A basis vector may be determined by theremote system 208 via the tracking such that the virtual avatar 402(e.g., the head of the virtual avatar 402) is oriented according torelative offsets of the puppeteer in relation to the spectator camera302. For example, if the puppeteer gazes above the virtual avatar 402,then the virtual avatar 402 will gaze above the user 306. In someembodiments, the puppeteer control methods described herein can blendseamlessly allowing the puppeteer to transition from one control methodto another without the user 306 and/or spectator becoming aware of thatchange.

In some embodiments, the virtual avatar 402 interacts with the spectatorand/or acknowledges the existence of the spectator by using thedetermined position and orientation of the spectator camera 302 via theremote system 208. The virtual avatar 402 may then gaze and/or gesture,among other interactions, as described herein in with the spectator.

Example Spectator View Processes

FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B are flowcharts illustrating example processes oflocalizing a stationary spectator camera (FIG. 7A) and a dynamicspectator camera (FIG. 7B) in an augmented reality session. Depending onthe embodiment, the method of FIGS. 7A and 7B may include fewer oradditional blocks and the blocks may be performed in an order that isdifferent than illustrated.

Beginning with the stationary spectator camera localization example atblock 702, a physical environment 308 is scanned for a two-dimensionalplanar image 304 coupled to a lens cap of the spectator camera 302. Insome embodiments, the image 304 may be fixed to another known locationrelative to the spectator camera 302. The scanning may be performed, forexample, by a head-mounted display system 210 as a user 306 moves and/orlooks around the environment 308. Any other suitable method foridentifying the distinguishable characteristic associated with a camera(e.g., the spectator camera 302) may be used, such as utilizing computervision, visual odometry, and/or a fiducial.

Moving to block 704, the location of the two-dimensional planar image304 is determined by the head-mounted display system 210 and stored viathe remote data repository 234.

Next at block 706, a virtual marker is generated via the head-mounteddisplay system 210 at the location of the two-dimensional planar image304. Moving to block 708, the origin point and gaze direction of thespectator camera is determined based on the virtual marker orientationand position. As shown in FIG. 7A, this origin point and gaze directionof the spectator camera is then provided to the remote system 208 foruse in synchronizing and rendering the virtual content of theenvironment from the provided origin point and gaze direction. Thisvirtual content may then be composited and synchronized with the videofeed from the spectator camera to provide a composite spectator viewthat may be viewable on one or more display devices.

At block 710, with the origin point and gaze direction of the spectatorcamera 302 identified, attributes of the virtual elements currentlydisplayed in the head-mounted display system 210 and the video feed fromthe spectator camera 302 are received by the remote system 208, whichmay generate a composite view of the environment to display as aspectator view on one or more displays. In some embodiments, the remotesystem 208 synchronizes and re-renders the virtual content (e.g., one ormore virtual avatars with associated rig data and/or virtual objects)from the origin point and gaze direction of the spectator camera beforecompositing with the spectator camera video. Thus, the virtual contentis rendered from the same reference point as the spectator camera.Accordingly, in the stationary spectator camera implementations, theorigin point and gaze direction may be determined only once and usablefor rendering of content within the environment so long as the cameraremains in the precise location as when the localization was performed.In some embodiments, the origin point and gaze direction mayperiodically be re-determined.

In embodiments where the spectator camera is movable, the origin pointand gaze direction of the spectator camera may be determined dynamicallyon an ongoing basis, such as at every frame of video recorded by thespectator camera (or other frequency, such as every 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1.0seconds or every n frames). In some implementations, this dynamiclocalization may be performed by additional sensors that are included inand/or are attached to a spectator camera. For example, a specializedlocalization device, such as including one or more additional cameras(e.g., two wide-angle lenses spaced apart to allow depth determinationsanywhere within the overlapping field-of-view) may be configured todetermine the precise three-dimensional position and gaze direction ofthe spectator camera with reference to a real-world environment as it ismoved about the environment. In other embodiments, other combinations ofsensors and software may be used to dynamically determine position of amovable spectator camera. FIG. 7B illustrates one example process ofdetermining position and orientation of a dynamic spectator camera.

Referring now to the dynamic spectator camera localization example atblock 712, the dynamic spectator camera may be automatically localizedby first determining the FOV of the spectator camera 302.

Moving to block 714, the features of the head-mounted display system 210are determined in the current frame of the spectator camera 302 feed viamarkerless tracking by the remote system 208 and stored via the remotedata repository 234.

Moving to block 716, the remote system 208 compares and finds thecorresponding features (e.g., correspondences) of the head-mounteddisplay system 210 in the following frames from the spectator camera 302feed.

At block 718, the spectator camera 302 origin point and gaze directionis determined based on the determined correspondences (e.g., twofeatures of the head-mounted display system 210 in different frames thatare the same features within the environment 308) position andorientation.

In some implementations, the remote system 208 may dynamically determineif the head-mounted display system 210 is in the FOV of the spectatorcamera 302 and, if so, run image processing algorithms (e.g., objectremoval and inpainting) to remove the head-mounted display system 210 ofthe user 306 from one or more frames from the spectator view video feedand replace the head-mounted display system 210 of the user 306 withrepresentations of the face of the user 306.

In some implementations, the remote system 208 may dynamically determineif the head-mounted display system 210 is in the FOV of the spectatorcamera 302 and, if so, run image processing algorithms (e.g., matting)to apply a holdout mask of the user 306 from one or more frames from thespectator view video feed. The holdout mask of the user 306 may beapplied against any virtual avatars 406 or objects the user 306 mayocclude.

In some implementations, the remote system 208 may dynamically determineif the head-mounted display system 210 is in the FOV of the spectatorcamera 302 and, if not, the spectator camera 302 may dynamically movesuch that the head-mounted display system is in the FOV of the spectatorcamera 302. The movement of the spectator camera 302 may be automatic(e.g. controlled by robotics) or manually (e.g. controlled by a cameraperson).

This process of determining the origin point and gaze direction of thespectator camera may be performed repeatedly (e.g., each n frames ofvideo) to provide the origin point and gaze direction of the dynamicspectator camera for use in generating the composite spectator viewvideo feed. The remote system 208 may be configured to receive and/orrequest updated origin point and gaze direction information from anyspecialized hardware (e.g., the example add-on sensor components withadditional cameras mentioned above) periodically for use in determininga current re-render position and orientation. Similar to FIG. 7A, atblock 710 the re-rendered virtual content may then be composited andsynchronized with the video feed from the dynamic spectator camera toprovide a composite spectator view that may be viewable on one or moredisplay devices.

Depending on the embodiment, the method of FIGS. 7A and 7B may outputthe composited spectator camera view to one or more spectator displays102 (e.g., monitors, televisions, tablets, phones, head-mounted displaysystems among other like spectator viewing displays).

EXAMPLE IMPLEMENTATIONS

The systems, methods, and devices described herein each have severalaspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirableattributes. Without limiting the scope of this disclosure, severalnon-limiting features will now be discussed briefly. The followingparagraphs describe various example implementations of the devices,systems, and methods described herein. A system of one or more computerscan be configured to perform particular operations or actions by virtueof having software, firmware, hardware, or a combination of theminstalled on the system that in operation causes or cause the system toperform the actions. One or more computer programs can be configured toperform particular operations or actions by virtue of includinginstructions that, when executed by data processing apparatus, cause theapparatus to perform the actions.

Example One: A system comprising: a camera positioned in an environmentto capture images of a user of an augmented reality (AR) head-mounteddisplay system within the environment; an AR head-mounted display systemconfigured to: determine an origin point in an environment coordinatesystem and gaze direction of the camera; determine rig data of a virtualavatar; a remote computing system configured to: receive a video feedfrom the camera; receive the rig data of the virtual avatar from the ARhead-mounted display system; receive the origin point and gaze directionof the camera with reference to the environment from the AR head-mounteddisplay system; render the virtual avatar from the origin point and gazedirection of the camera; composite the rendered virtual avatar on thevideo feed to generate a spectator view video feed of the environment;and transmit the spectator view video feed to one or more displaydevices; and a display device configured to receive and render thespectator view video feed.

Example Two: The system of Example One, wherein said determining theorigin point and gaze direction of the camera with reference to theenvironment comprises: scanning the environment with an imaging deviceof the AR head-mounted display system for a known two-dimensional planarimage; determining the two-dimensional planar image location withreference to the environment coordinate system; determining the cameraorigin point and gaze direction based on the determined location.

Example Three: The system of Example One, wherein said determining theorigin point and gaze direction of the camera with reference to theenvironment comprises: receiving, from a localization device coupled tothe camera, a real-time location information of the camera withreference to the environment coordinate system; and determining thecamera origin point and gaze direction based on the received real-timelocation information.

Example Four: The system of Example Three, wherein the localizationdevice comprises two or more imaging devices.

Example Five: The system of Example One, wherein the camera communicateswith the remote computing system via a serial digital interface (SDI).

Example Six: The system of Example One, wherein a lens of the cameracomprises a plurality of individual lens elements comprising extra-lowdispersion (ED), super ED, and ED aspherical (EDA) elements.

Example Seven: A method, performed by an augmented reality (AR)head-mounted display system having one or more hardware computerprocessors and one or more non-transitory computer readable storagedevices storing software instructions executable by the AR head-mounteddisplay system to: access images of an environment obtained from anoutward-facing camera of the AR head-mounted display system; scan theimages for a known two-dimensional planar image at a fixed position withreference to a camera; determine a location of the two-dimensionalplanar image with reference to a world coordinate system; generate avirtual marker at the determined location of the two-dimensional planarimage; determine a camera origin point and gaze direction based at leaston the virtual marker; transmit the determined camera origin point andgaze direction to a remote computing system configured to: render one ormore virtual elements of the environment from the origin point and gazedirection; composite the rendered virtual elements and a video feed fromthe camera to generate a spectator view video feed of the environment;and transmit the spectator view video feed to one or more displaydevices.

Example Eight: The method of Example Seven, wherein the two-dimensionalplanar image is coupled to a lens of the camera.

Example Nine: The method of Example Seven, wherein the virtual marker isa virtual cube or virtual box.

Example Ten: The method of Example Seven, wherein the virtual markercomprises virtual particle animations.

Example Eleven: The method of Example Seven, wherein the virtual markercomprises virtual annotations.

Example Twelve: The method of Example Seven, wherein the camera isstationary.

Example Thirteen: The method of Example Seven, wherein the one or morevirtual elements comprise a virtual avatar.

Example Fourteen: The method of Example Thirteen, wherein the virtualavatar interacts with a user of the AR head-mounted display system by atleast one of a prearranged routine, an interactive interaction, or apuppeteer.

Example Fifteen: A computerized method, performed by a computing systemhaving one or more hardware computer processors and one or morenon-transitory computer readable storage device storing softwareinstructions executable by the computing system to perform thecomputerized method comprising: accessing images of an environment froma camera; determining a field of view of the camera within theenvironment; detecting a feature of an augmented reality (AR)head-mounted display system for a first frame; comparing the detectedfeature of the first frame with a corresponding feature of a secondframe; determining correspondences based on the compared first frame andsecond frame; determining a camera origin point and gaze direction ofthe camera in the environment based on the correspondences; receiving,from an augmented reality (AR) head-mounted display, rig data associatedwith one or more virtual elements in the environment; rendering thevirtual elements from the determined camera origin point and gazedirection; compositing the rendered virtual elements with a video feedfrom the camera to generate a composite video feed of the environment.

Example Sixteen: The method of Example Fifteen, wherein the camera ismoveable.

Example Seventeen: The method of Example Sixteen, wherein the dynamiccamera is operated by a camera operator.

Example Eighteen: The method of Example Sixteen, wherein the dynamiccamera is controlled by a motorized camera mount.

Example Nineteen: The method of Example Fifteen, wherein the virtualelements comprise a virtual avatar.

Example Twenty: The method of Example Fifteen, further comprising:

transmitting the composite video feed to one or more display devices.

As noted above, implementations of the described examples provided abovemay include hardware, a method or process, and/or computer software on acomputer-accessible medium.

Other Considerations

Each of the processes, methods, and algorithms described herein and/ordepicted in the attached figures may be embodied in, and fully orpartially automated by, code modules executed by one or more physicalcomputing systems, hardware computer processors, application-specificcircuitry, and/or electronic hardware configured to execute specific andparticular computer instructions. For example, computing systems caninclude general purpose computers (e.g., servers) programmed withspecific computer instructions or special purpose computers, specialpurpose circuitry, and so forth. A code module may be compiled andlinked into an executable program, installed in a dynamic link library,or may be written in an interpreted programming language. In someimplementations, particular operations and methods may be performed bycircuitry that is specific to a given function.

Further, certain implementations of the functionality of the presentdisclosure are sufficiently mathematically, computationally, ortechnically complex that application-specific hardware or one or morephysical computing devices (utilizing appropriate specialized executableinstructions) may be necessary to perform the functionality, forexample, due to the volume or complexity of the calculations involved orto provide results substantially in real-time. For example, animationsor video may include many frames, with each frame having millions ofpixels, and specifically programmed computer hardware is necessary toprocess the video data to provide a desired image processing task orapplication in a commercially reasonable amount of time.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be a system, a method,and/or a computer program product at any possible technical detail levelof integration. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or mediums) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent disclosure.

For example, the functionality described herein may be performed assoftware instructions are executed by, and/or in response to softwareinstructions being executed by, one or more hardware processors and/orany other suitable computing devices. The software instructions and/orother executable code may be read from a computer readable storagemedium (or mediums).

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store data and/or instructions for use by an instructionexecution device. The computer readable storage medium may be, forexample, but is not limited to, an electronic storage device (includingany volatile and/or non-volatile electronic storage devices), a magneticstorage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storagedevice, a semiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a solid state drive, a random accessmemory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmableread-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a static random access memory(SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digitalversatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanicallyencoded device such as punch-cards or raised structures in a groovehaving instructions recorded thereon, and any suitable combination ofthe foregoing. A computer readable storage medium, as used herein, isnot to be construed as being transitory signals per se, such as radiowaves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagneticwaves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g.,light pulses passing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signalstransmitted through a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions (as also referred to herein as,for example, “code,” “instructions,” “module,” “application,” “softwareapplication,” and/or the like) for carrying out operations of thepresent disclosure may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, oreither source code or object code written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Java, C++, or the like, and procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. Computer readable program instructions may be callable fromother instructions or from itself, and/or may be invoked in response todetected events or interrupts. Computer readable program instructionsconfigured for execution on computing devices may be provided on acomputer readable storage medium, and/or as a digital download (and maybe originally stored in a compressed or installable format that requiresinstallation, decompression or decryption prior to execution) that maythen be stored on a computer readable storage medium. Such computerreadable program instructions may be stored, partially or fully, on amemory device (e.g., a computer readable storage medium) of theexecuting computing device, for execution by the computing device. Thecomputer readable program instructions may execute entirely on a user'scomputer (e.g., the executing computing device), partly on the user'scomputer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user'scomputer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remotecomputer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may beconnected to the user's computer through any type of network, includinga local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or theconnection may be made to an external computer (for example, through theInternet using an Internet Service Provider). In some embodiments,electronic circuitry including, for example, programmable logiccircuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or programmable logicarrays (PLA) may execute the computer readable program instructions byutilizing state information of the computer readable programinstructions to personalize the electronic circuitry, in order toperform aspects of the present disclosure.

Aspects of the present disclosure are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of thedisclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart(s) and/or block diagram(s)block or blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on amagnetic disk or solid state drive of a remote computer. The remotecomputer may load the instructions and/or modules into its dynamicmemory and send the instructions over a telephone, cable, or opticalline using a modem. A modem local to a server computing system mayreceive the data on the telephone/cable/optical line and use a converterdevice including the appropriate circuitry to place the data on a bus.The bus may carry the data to a memory, from which a processor mayretrieve and execute the instructions. The instructions received by thememory may optionally be stored on a storage device (e.g., a solid statedrive) either before or after execution by the computer processor.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. In addition, certain blocks may be omitted insome implementations. The methods and processes described herein arealso not limited to any particular sequence, and the blocks or statesrelating thereto can be performed in other sequences that areappropriate.

It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/orflowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagramsand/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purposehardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts orcarry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computerinstructions. For example, any of the processes, methods, algorithms,elements, blocks, applications, or other functionality (or portions offunctionality) described in the preceding sections may be embodied in,and/or fully or partially automated via, electronic hardware suchapplication-specific processors (e.g., application-specific integratedcircuits (ASICs)), programmable processors (e.g., field programmablegate arrays (FPGAs)), application-specific circuitry, and/or the like(any of which may also combine custom hard-wired logic, logic circuits,ASICs, FPGAs, etc. with custom programming/execution of softwareinstructions to accomplish the techniques).

Any of the above-mentioned processors, and/or devices incorporating anyof the above-mentioned processors, may be referred to herein as, forexample, “computers,” “computer devices,” “computing devices,” “hardwarecomputing devices,” “hardware processors,” “processing units,” and/orthe like. Computing devices of the above-embodiments may generally (butnot necessarily) be controlled and/or coordinated by operating systemsoftware, such as Mac OS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, Windows OS (e.g.,Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, WindowsServer, etc.), Windows CE, Unix, Linux, SunOS, Solaris, Blackberry OS,VxWorks, or other suitable operating systems. In other embodiments, thecomputing devices may be controlled by a proprietary operating system.Conventional operating systems control and schedule computer processesfor execution, perform memory management, provide file system,networking, I/O services, and provide a user interface functionality,such as a graphical user interface (“GUI”), among other things.

As described above, in various embodiments certain functionality may beaccessible by a user through a web-based viewer (such as a web browser),or other suitable software program). In such implementations, the userinterface may be generated by a server computing system and transmittedto a web browser of the user (e.g., running on the user's computingsystem). Alternatively, data (e.g., user interface data) necessary forgenerating the user interface may be provided by the server computingsystem to the browser, where the user interface may be generated (e.g.,the user interface data may be executed by a browser accessing a webservice and may be configured to render the user interfaces based on theuser interface data). The user may then interact with the user interfacethrough the web-browser. User interfaces of certain implementations maybe accessible through one or more dedicated software applications. Incertain embodiments, one or more of the computing devices and/or systemsof the disclosure may include mobile computing devices, and userinterfaces may be accessible through such mobile computing devices (forexample, smartphones and/or tablets).

These computer programs, which may also be referred to as programs,software, software applications, applications, components, or code, mayinclude machine instructions for a programmable controller, processor,microprocessor or other computing or computerized architecture, and maybe implemented in a high-level procedural language, an object-orientedprogramming language, a functional programming language, a logicalprogramming language, and/or in assembly/machine language. As usedherein, the term “machine-readable medium” refers to any computerprogram product, apparatus and/or device, such as for example magneticdiscs, optical disks, memory, and Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs),used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmableprocessor, including a machine-readable medium that receives machineinstructions as a machine-readable signal. The term “machine-readablesignal” refers to any signal used to provide machine instructions and/ordata to a programmable processor. The machine-readable medium may storesuch machine instructions non-transitorily, such as for example as woulda non-transient solid-state memory or a magnetic hard drive or anyequivalent storage medium. The machine-readable medium may alternativelyor additionally store such machine instructions in a transient manner,such as for example as would a processor cache or other random accessmemory associated with one or more physical processor cores.

Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-describedembodiments, the elements of which are to be understood as being amongother acceptable examples. All such modifications and variations areintended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure. Theforegoing description details certain embodiments. It will beappreciated, however, that no matter how detailed the foregoing appearsin text, the systems and methods can be practiced in many ways. As isalso stated above, it should be noted that the use of particularterminology when describing certain features or aspects of the systemsand methods should not be taken to imply that the terminology is beingre-defined herein to be restricted to including any specificcharacteristics of the features or aspects of the systems and methodswith which that terminology is associated.

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainembodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certainfeatures, elements, and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is notgenerally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are inany way required for one or more embodiments or that one or moreembodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without userinput or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps areincluded or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

The term “substantially” when used in conjunction with the term“real-time” forms a phrase that will be readily understood by a personof ordinary skill in the art. For example, it is readily understood thatsuch language will include speeds in which no or little delay or waitingis discernible, or where such delay is sufficiently short so as not tobe disruptive, irritating, or otherwise vexing to a user.

Conjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, and Z,”or “at least one of X, Y, or Z,” unless specifically stated otherwise,is to be understood with the context as used in general to convey thatan item, term, etc. may be either X, Y, or Z, or a combination thereof.For example, the term “or” is used in its inclusive sense (and not inits exclusive sense) so that when used, for example, to connect a listof elements, the term “or” means one, some, or all of the elements inthe list. Thus, such conjunctive language is not generally intended toimply that certain embodiments require at least one of X, at least oneof Y, and at least one of Z to each be present.

The term “a” as used herein should be given an inclusive rather thanexclusive interpretation. For example, unless specifically noted, theterm “a” should not be understood to mean “exactly one” or “one and onlyone”; instead, the term “a” means “one or more” or “at least one,”whether used in the claims or elsewhere in the specification andregardless of uses of quantifiers such as “at least one,” “one or more,”or “a plurality” elsewhere in the claims or specification.

The term “comprising” as used herein should be given an inclusive ratherthan exclusive interpretation. For example, a general purpose computercomprising one or more processors should not be interpreted as excludingother computer components, and may possibly include such components asmemory, input/output devices, and/or network interfaces, among others.

Spatially relative terms, such as “forward”, “rearward”, “under”,“below”, “lower”, “over”, “upper” and the like, may be used herein forease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship toanother element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. It willbe understood that the spatially relative terms are intended toencompass different orientations of the device in use or operation inaddition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if adevice in the figures is inverted, elements described as “under” or“beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “over” theother elements or features due to the inverted state. Thus, the term“under” may encompass both an orientation of over and under, dependingon the point of reference or orientation. The device may be otherwiseoriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatiallyrelative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly. Similarly, theterms “upwardly”, “downwardly”, “vertical”, “horizontal” and the likemay be used herein for the purpose of explanation only unlessspecifically indicated otherwise.

Although the terms “first” and “second” may be used herein to describevarious features/elements (including steps or processes), thesefeatures/elements should not be limited by these terms as an indicationof the order of the features/elements or whether one is primary or moreimportant than the other, unless the context indicates otherwise. Theseterms may be used to distinguish one feature/element from anotherfeature/element. Thus, a first feature/element discussed could be termeda second feature/element, and similarly, a second feature/elementdiscussed below could be termed a first feature/element withoutdeparting from the teachings provided herein.

As used herein in the specification and claims, including as used in theexamples and unless otherwise expressly specified, all numbers may beread as if prefaced by the word “about” or “approximately,” even if theterm does not expressly appear. The phrase “about” or “approximately”may be used when describing magnitude and/or position to indicate thatthe value and/or position described is within a reasonable expectedrange of values and/or positions. For example, a numeric value may havea value that is +/−0.1% of the stated value (or range of values), +/−1%of the stated value (or range of values), +/−2% of the stated value (orrange of values), +/−5% of the stated value (or range of values), +/−10%of the stated value (or range of values), etc. Any numerical valuesgiven herein should also be understood to include about or approximatelythat value, unless the context indicates otherwise.

For example, if the value “10” is disclosed, then “about 10” is alsodisclosed. Any numerical range recited herein is intended to include allsub-ranges subsumed therein. It is also understood that when a value isdisclosed that “less than or equal to” the value, “greater than or equalto the value” and possible ranges between values are also disclosed, asappropriately understood by the skilled artisan. For example, if thevalue “X” is disclosed the “less than or equal to X” as well as “greaterthan or equal to X” (e.g., where X is a numerical value) is alsodisclosed. It is also understood that the throughout the application,data is provided in a number of different formats, and that this data,may represent endpoints or starting points, and ranges for anycombination of the data points. For example, if a particular data point“10” and a particular data point “15” may be disclosed, it is understoodthat greater than, greater than or equal to, less than, less than orequal to, and equal to 10 and 15 may be considered disclosed as well asbetween 10 and 15. It is also understood that each unit between twoparticular units may be also disclosed. For example, if 10 and 15 may bedisclosed, then 11, 12, 13, and 14 may be also disclosed.

Although various illustrative embodiments have been disclosed, any of anumber of changes may be made to various embodiments without departingfrom the teachings herein. For example, the order in which variousdescribed method steps are performed may be changed or reconfigured indifferent or alternative embodiments, and in other embodiments one ormore method steps may be skipped altogether. Optional or desirablefeatures of various device and system embodiments may be included insome embodiments and not in others. Therefore, the foregoing descriptionis provided primarily for the purpose of example and should not beinterpreted to limit the scope of the claims and specific embodiments orparticular details or features disclosed.

Similarly, while operations may be depicted in the drawings in aparticular order, it is to be recognized that such operations need notbe performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, orthat all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirableresults. Further, the drawings may schematically depict one more exampleprocesses in the form of a flowchart. However, other operations that arenot depicted can be incorporated in the example methods and processesthat are schematically illustrated. For example, one or more additionaloperations can be performed before, after, simultaneously, or betweenany of the illustrated operations. Additionally, the operations may berearranged or reordered in other implementations. In certaincircumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous.Moreover, the separation of various system components in theimplementations described above should not be understood as requiringsuch separation in all implementations, and it should be understood thatthe described program components and systems can generally be integratedtogether in a single software product or packaged into multiple softwareproducts. Additionally, other implementations are within the scope ofthe following claims. In some cases, the actions recited in the claimscan be performed in a different order and still achieve desirableresults.

While the above detailed description has shown, described, and pointedout novel features as applied to various embodiments, it may beunderstood that various omissions, substitutions, and changes in theform and details of the devices or processes illustrated may be madewithout departing from the spirit of the disclosure. As may berecognized, certain embodiments described herein may be embodied withina form that does not provide all of the features and benefits set forthherein, as some features may be used or practiced separately fromothers. The scope of certain embodiments disclosed herein is indicatedby the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. Allchanges which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of theclaims are to be embraced within their scope.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a camera positioned in anenvironment to capture images of a user of an augmented reality (AR)head-mounted display system within the environment; an AR head-mounteddisplay system configured to: determine an origin point in anenvironment coordinate system and gaze direction of the camera;determine rig data of a virtual avatar; a remote computing systemconfigured to: receive a video feed from the camera; receive the rigdata of the virtual avatar from the AR head-mounted display system;receive the origin point and gaze direction of the camera with referenceto the environment from the AR head-mounted display system; render thevirtual avatar from the origin point and gaze direction of the camera;composite the rendered virtual avatar on the video feed to generate aspectator view video feed of the environment; and transmit the spectatorview video feed to one or more display devices; and a display deviceconfigured to receive and render the spectator view video feed.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein said determining the origin point and gazedirection of the camera with reference to the environment comprises:scanning the environment with an imaging device of the AR head-mounteddisplay system for a known two-dimensional planar image; determining thetwo-dimensional planar image location with reference to the environmentcoordinate system; determining the camera origin point and gazedirection based on the determined location.
 3. The system of claim 1,wherein said determining the origin point and gaze direction of thecamera with reference to the environment comprises: receiving, from alocalization device coupled to the camera, a real-time locationinformation of the camera with reference to the environment coordinatesystem; and determining the camera origin point and gaze direction basedon the received real-time location information.
 4. The system of claim3, wherein the localization device comprises two or more imagingdevices.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the camera communicates withthe remote computing system via a serial digital interface (SDI).
 6. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein a lens of the camera comprises a plurality ofindividual lens elements comprising extra-low dispersion (ED), super ED,and ED aspherical (EDA) elements.
 7. A method, performed by an augmentedreality (AR) head-mounted display system having one or more hardwarecomputer processors and one or more non-transitory computer readablestorage devices storing software instructions executable by the ARhead-mounted display system to: access images of an environment obtainedfrom an outward-facing camera of the AR head-mounted display system;scan the images for a known two-dimensional planar image at a fixedposition with reference to a camera; determine a location of thetwo-dimensional planar image with reference to a world coordinatesystem; generate a virtual marker at the determined location of thetwo-dimensional planar image; determine a camera origin point and gazedirection based at least on the virtual marker; transmit the determinedcamera origin point and gaze direction to a remote computing systemconfigured to: render one or more virtual elements of the environmentfrom the origin point and gaze direction; composite the rendered virtualelements and a video feed from the camera to generate a spectator viewvideo feed of the environment; and transmit the spectator view videofeed to one or more display devices.
 8. The method of claim 7, whereinthe two-dimensional planar image is coupled to a lens of the camera. 9.The method of claim 7, wherein the virtual marker is a virtual cube orvirtual box.
 10. The method of claim 7, wherein the virtual markercomprises virtual particle animations.
 11. The method of claim 7,wherein the virtual marker comprises virtual annotations.
 12. The methodof claim 7, wherein the camera is stationary.
 13. The method of claim 7,wherein the one or more virtual elements comprise a virtual avatar. 14.The method of claim 13, wherein the virtual avatar interacts with a userof the AR head-mounted display system by at least one of a prearrangedroutine, an interactive interaction, or a puppeteer.
 15. A computerizedmethod, performed by a computing system having one or more hardwarecomputer processors and one or more non-transitory computer readablestorage device storing software instructions executable by the computingsystem to perform the computerized method comprising: accessing imagesof an environment from a camera; determining a field of view of thecamera within the environment; detecting a feature of an augmentedreality (AR) head-mounted display system for a first frame; comparingthe detected feature of the first frame with a corresponding feature ofa second frame; determining correspondences based on the compared firstframe and second frame; determining a camera origin point and gazedirection of the camera in the environment based on the correspondences;receiving, from an augmented reality (AR) head-mounted display, rig dataassociated with one or more virtual elements in the environment;rendering the virtual elements from the determined camera origin pointand gaze direction; compositing the rendered virtual elements with avideo feed from the camera to generate a composite video feed of theenvironment.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the camera is moveable.17. The method of claim 16, wherein the moveable camera is operated by acamera operator.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein the moveable camerais controlled by a motorized camera mount.
 19. The method of claim 15,wherein the virtual elements comprise a virtual avatar.
 20. The methodof claim 15, further comprising: transmitting the composite video feedto one or more display devices.